yakky

Depends on what focal length you have the lens set to and the location of the camera. The CCTV Design tool on the left links section looks like it might be able to show you potential views/locations.

Hard to see, does the board have any jumpers or buttons on it?

If you could get behind the stucco.... maybe. Sounds like a lot of work. The CNB domes can look almost straight down, probably 75 degrees before the housing gets in the way.

Dome is definitely less conspicuous. If you get the traditional domes you can mount them with just the clear part poking out if you install in your soffiting. The softball looking domes are another good option. Bullets stick out like sore thumbs unless concealed behind something.

I was offering help in recovering the drive as that sounds like the best course of fixing it, short of getting in touch with the vendor. Maybe you have some better ideas?

Is it just your boss' PC or any remote PC?

Color me confused, but you stated: "it's exactly the same when using my netbook or the GF's new i5 laptop with dedicated gfx, and that's on the home lan." So if its bad on the lan, why are you troubleshooting the remote connection?

For residential, what exactly is your issue? New system, looking at everything? Most of us get past that and view footage when some event happens.

Yes, the XCM-24VF

Ok, after some tweaking, got it fairly close, but in my eyes, the CNB is still smeared, even though the focus seems to be much better now. CNB _kZidyzpGXI Qvis Kvu7YJkrlAo

Upsampling plain and simple is a waste of space. You get no additional quality, it just uses more space.

Most of the consumer grade DVRs have a reduced quality stream for remote viewing.

Convert to avis then split using virtualdub.

Thanks guys. Tom, you mention the exact issues I'm aware of. The fact that no one wants cameras looking over their shoulder, well, what am I to do? They will see domes in the eaves if they look hard enough. Will they be pointed at their lot, no, but you know how quick people are to judge. Then when something does happen, they'll be asking if I have footage of THEIR hubcaps getting stolen...lol. I do like NN's idea of showing them the possibilities...

How bad is the drive? Does it spin at all? I've had pretty good luck with freezing drives and then doing a drive backup. You have to be quick and keep the drive cold if you do get it back up, but it really seems to work.

CNB would do well to put all this stuff on some sort of decoder page. I'm sure it's pretty frustrating for everyone new to the line.

Yep, its the housing. From my understanding the first three letters in the CNB line are the housing, the next 3/4 are the camera model, so anything with the -24VF has the same camera. There are generational issues as well, but all else being equal...... The VBM is going to be much lower profile.

If you are dead set on wireless, you can get some Panasonic ($$$) or Foscam (budget) wireless cameras. Then you can monitor either with something like Zoneminder or BlueIris. That said, you'll spend more time and get worse results that a budget wired solution. I started with a few wireless IP cams with Zoneminder, went to wired IP cams, still unhappy. Bought a cheap DVR and coax cams, still unhappy, now moving on to a budget DVR system with some decent ($100) cameras. The real issue is there are no wireless IP cameras under $500 that are worth a crap in the dark.

Great post, this should be "stickied"

that is more than ground loop. take a look at the cars going past ... that has nothing to do with ground loop. which DVR are you using ??? also type of hard drive used ( i have seen green type do this) Nightowl Poseidon with a Seagate 7200rpm drive.

Ok, tinkered around with the focus at night with the electronic shutter on, DC off. Results look a lot better: _kZidyzpGXI 1PDz36rQP28 Still not sure its a better bang for the buck than the Qvis though.

We all know that. It's easy enough to test the PS with a volt meter and advise the customer. But from being on the other end, even when a trusted service person only presents one option, and that option is a sale, you as the customer feel like....well... he's trying to sell you something.

Perhaps, but what if you factor staff training and familiarity with the current system. No reason they can't make an informed decision and groovyman gets to make two $ervice calls.

Give the client both options and explain (in simple terms) the benefits/risks of each. Most people like to have a choice. If they just get the power supply, make sure you leave your sticker/card on their dvr for when it needs work again.

Seems like a creep was looking for a reason to get inside and "look around" Who knows what would have happened if no one was home. Cheap cameras for sure, but I'm glad more and more homeowners are getting systems. Its going to make crooks think a little more.